Palouse Falls
The geology of the Palouse region of Idaho and Washington is awesome. The rolling hills are now covered with wheat fields but were once vast expanses of native grasslands. Every so often I get a glimpse of what it must have been like prior to European settlement of the area and I always wish I could travel back in time to see it as it was then.
Besides the awesome hills there are a few amazing canyons and - believe it or not - some amazing waterfalls. About two hours west of my homestead is Palouse Falls. The falls are about 200 feet high and plunge into a circular pool along the path of the Palouse River which flows into the Snake River. The canyon itself is about 400 feet deep. Getting to the falls involved a long drive through the Palouse hills that all seem to look alike. And then, out of nowhere, you come upon this deep cavern of a canyon and the falls.
Having always been interested in geology, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the signs at the trail head. I am one of those folks that ALWAYS reads the signs. Anyway, the story of how the falls came to be is wild. About 12,000 years ago the largest and most powerful flood on earth struck the Montana/Idaho/Washington/Oregon region of the US. An ice dam that was about 1/2 a mile high and 30 miles wide on Glacial Lake Missoula slowly eroded away along the bottom and eventually burst. Lake Missoula was huge - about 200 miles long and held about 500 cubic miles of water. The floodwaters pummeled the landscape across the northern Idaho panhandle, eastern Washington, and along the Columbia River which creates the border between Washington and Oregon. The waters moved at up to 60 miles and hour and as you can imagine, scoured the earth and created the coulees, aka deep canyons, and of course the Palouse Falls. Over the years the dam would reform and burst again and again continuing the erosion process of the massive flood. There was another waterfall along the flood path that was actually the largest ever documented on Earth but subsequent floods shifted the flow of the river and now it is dry. Hence the name Dry Falls. Today we've got cool landforms and lakes all around the area. Geology Rocks!
** This photo was taken last weekend in the midst of a persistent rainstorm. If you Google the falls you will find lots of other amazing photographs of it in all seasons. I intend to get back out to the region again sometime when it isn't pouring rain.
Besides the awesome hills there are a few amazing canyons and - believe it or not - some amazing waterfalls. About two hours west of my homestead is Palouse Falls. The falls are about 200 feet high and plunge into a circular pool along the path of the Palouse River which flows into the Snake River. The canyon itself is about 400 feet deep. Getting to the falls involved a long drive through the Palouse hills that all seem to look alike. And then, out of nowhere, you come upon this deep cavern of a canyon and the falls.
Having always been interested in geology, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the signs at the trail head. I am one of those folks that ALWAYS reads the signs. Anyway, the story of how the falls came to be is wild. About 12,000 years ago the largest and most powerful flood on earth struck the Montana/Idaho/Washington/Oregon region of the US. An ice dam that was about 1/2 a mile high and 30 miles wide on Glacial Lake Missoula slowly eroded away along the bottom and eventually burst. Lake Missoula was huge - about 200 miles long and held about 500 cubic miles of water. The floodwaters pummeled the landscape across the northern Idaho panhandle, eastern Washington, and along the Columbia River which creates the border between Washington and Oregon. The waters moved at up to 60 miles and hour and as you can imagine, scoured the earth and created the coulees, aka deep canyons, and of course the Palouse Falls. Over the years the dam would reform and burst again and again continuing the erosion process of the massive flood. There was another waterfall along the flood path that was actually the largest ever documented on Earth but subsequent floods shifted the flow of the river and now it is dry. Hence the name Dry Falls. Today we've got cool landforms and lakes all around the area. Geology Rocks!
** This photo was taken last weekend in the midst of a persistent rainstorm. If you Google the falls you will find lots of other amazing photographs of it in all seasons. I intend to get back out to the region again sometime when it isn't pouring rain.
rain is the best time to photograph waterfalls.
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